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News | We have more volunteers than ever… but we still need more!

Scouting now has the largest number of volunteers than we've had in our entire history! The annual Census figures are out and show us that there's an incredible amount of volunteers in Scouting, but that with a sky-high waiting list for young people, we still need more.

Here’s a snapshot of the top facts and figures:

Total membership today is 618,000 - up by 7.8% from last year’s total of 573,943! We’re in our twelfth year of membership growth and Scouting continues to be the largest co-educational youth movement in the UK. There are now457,000 young people involved in Scouting across the UK, which means 457,000 young people’s lives are being enriched with Scouting skills to help better prepare them for the future.

UK Scouting now has a staggering 154,000 volunteers – the largest numbers of volunteers in our entire history! This correlates with Scouting’s increasingly flexible approach to volunteering, allowing more adults to help out casually. While this number is certainly an impressive one, we’re still in need of as many more volunteers as we can get our hands on. Scouting is becoming increasingly popular and although we have more volunteers than ever before, there’s still a need for more. Chief Commissioner Tim Kidd says: ‘I’m calling on adults who want to make a difference to the lives of young people in their communities to give Scouting a go. We know that not having enough time is the main barrier to volunteering among adults, which is why we want to make it easier by offering flexibility in a range of roles from Scout group leaders to administrative and trustee positions.’

The waiting list for young people wanting to join has skyrocketed to 51,000 – the highest it’s ever been! On the one hand, it’s wonderful to see how many young people are keen to join in the fun and how popular the Movement is, but on the other hand, it means there are still a lot of young people currently missing out. Despite having the largest number of volunteers we’ve ever had, the number of young people waiting to join has continued to grow. If you’re reading this and not already a volunteer, why not become one and help ensure more young people benefit from the opportunities Scouting offers?

The Cub section is currently the most popular of all Scouting sections. There are 158,000 members of the Cub section and nearly 2,000 have joined in the last 12 months.

The top 10 fastest growing locations (by percentage of overall Scouting membership) in the UK in 2015-16 are:

Mid Glamorgan

Northumberland

County Londonderry

Snowdonia and Anglesey

Durham

Lincolnshire

Norfolk

Avon

Merseyside

Central Yorkshire

Thanks to everyone involved in Scouting for your hard work over the past year, your adventurous nature and dedication to making Scouting an incredible experience for all young people. These results are a testament to everyone’s efforts at growing the Scouting community across the UK.